Al-Qaeda Offshoot Routs US-Trained Forces And Captures Iraq's Second Largest City

A man, who was injured during a suicide bomber attack
in Mwafaqiya village at Mosul, lies in a hospital bed after he
was brought for treatment in a hospital in Arbil, the capital of
the autonomous Kurdistan region, June 6, 2014.REUTERS/Stringer

American-trained Iraqi forces reportedly fled posts in
Mosul, Iraq's second largest city, and all of the city's critical
facilities — including the government complex and
the prisons — are now controlled by the insurgents.

“When the battle got tough in the city of Mosul, the troops
dropped their weapons and abandoned their posts, making it an
easy prey for the terrorists,” Iraq’s speaker of parliament
Osama Nujaifi stated in Baghdad.

Sly emphasized the significance of northern Iraq falling to ISIS.

ISIS militants have captured Mosul. The US trained security
forces fled. A huge day for Iraq. And the US. http://t.co/fR0675fssZ

ISIS has brutally reigned over the population in northern
Syria after
blurring the border between the.two countries last year.

Nujafi, highlighting Mosul's significance, asked for
international and government help to retake the city.

“Everything is fallen. It’s a crisis,” he said. “Having
these terrorist groups control a city in the heart of Iraq
threatens not only Iraq but the entire region.”

The Post notes that the rapid fall of Mosul, a key
commercial and trading center, "suggests the
U.S.-trained Iraqi security forces are even more vulnerable than
had previously been thought."

The U.S. military focused on Mosul during its effort to
stabilize Iraq after years of war. ISIS reportedly took the
city's airport, and Iraq's parliament speaker said that militants
obtained helicopters when they took over what was
a hub for American troops and advisors.